Nepotism in NY?

Sorry that I, Mr. Thomas Nast, have been sleepless in Seattle for weeks and haven’t posted. But it has come to my attention that we have some serious nepotism in upstate New York politics, just when we thought those days were over!

Today, directly from the Watertown Daily Times we found out that our newly elected State Senator, Mr. Darrel J. Aubertine, has added several new staffers to the state’s payroll. One such staffer just happens to be his sister, Debra A. Wiley. Now the move is all fine and dandy, except her salary comes straight out of the wallet of the New York State taxpayer. Sounds like straight up nepotism to me. I wonder if the Watertown Daily Times and the writer, Jude Seymour, will follow up and find out just how much she is being paid for her new role as head of constituent liaisons… and I wonder how much Senator Jim Wright paid his constituent liaison staffer? If Wiley gets special treatment for being the new Senator’s sister will anyone make an issue of it when Aubertine wants to run for Congress?

On a positive note for Aubertine at least he can get this out of the way before his Congressional run in 2010 or 2012, depending on how long McHugh wants to stay in the US Congress. It looks like he is staying put and he is making a heck of a run for chair/ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Bravo to Mr. McHugh!

I remember another former New York politician who sought to clean up New York politics, rid the state of nepotism, and special interest… his name was Eliot Spitzer. It looks like Hillary Clinton taught Aubertine well – reward those close to home.